10 February 1944
Bangkok defenders sallying to engage our armies in the open
Japanese Home Waters
USS Trigger hit an AKL (1650 tons) with 2 torpedoes near Miyako-jima, plenty of overkill for that little boat.
USS Amberjack hit a tanker south of Okinawa, setting its fuel cargo alight. The torpedo damage appeared moderate but good chance the fire kills it. I thought this was the same convoy hit twice yesterday while playing, but now as I write the report it appears to be a different convoy.
USS Crevalle torpedoed and sank a PC (785 tons) near Amami Oshima.
Philippines
USS Scorpion finished off the PB (2780 tons) Gudgeon hit yesterday.
USS Guardfish torpedoed and sank another PB (2780 tons) near Batan Island. A kaibokan in the task force engaged Guardfish afterwards and lightly damaged it.
The Venturas flying from Amoy had their first success, hitting a PB with a bomb and setting it on fire. Zeroes and Nicks tried to intercept but were too late.
Allied raids:
Iloilo (airbase and ground forces): 74 casualties, 7 base hits; 1 Helldiver shot down by flak
Manila (airbase) -- NO CAP -- 1 George, 1 Judy destroyed on the ground, 11 base hits
The paratroopers on Iloilo attacked the enemy base but failed to overrun it. Casualties 63 (J) to 71 (A). Maybe I need more troops.
China
The enemy spread its night raids out tonight:
Amoy: 1 Sally shot down by nightfighters, no damage
Allied raids:
Taiyuan (ground forces) 37 casualties
Ground combat:
Taiyuan, Allied Deliberate attack, 20k troops vs 5k, 185 (J) to 1086 (A) casualties.
Ouch! This is an enemy unit that somehow slipped past our frontline and they're sitting in a mountain pass on the road supplying Taiyuan. It doesn't look like we can dislodge them, and reinforcements are a long way off. On the other hand, by going behind my lines, the enemy has also cut themselves off from supply, so this blocking force should be unsustainable.
South China Sea
USS Peto shelled and sank a landing barge near Cam Rahn Bay. It appears to have been empty.
An enemy CVBG (probably the KB) was spotted near Cam Rahn Bay.
DEI
New Mexico and Arizona bombarded Koepang, no apparent damage.
Allied raids:
Surabaya (night, airbase): 1 hit
Surabaya (day, airbase): 23 hits, Judy-C destroyed on ground. 1 B-24 shot down by CAP.
Koepang (ground forces) 6 casualties
Burma and Thailand
Allied raids:
Bangkok (airbase): Only 1 Irving tried to protect the base and the B-24 gunners shot it down. 21 base hits.
Ayuthia (ground forces) 169 casualties
In a move that leaves me wondering, 28,000 enemy troops left Bangkok on the "west road" to engage our army. We had ordered an attack here against a token-sized unit but instead got this. The enemy was just arriving, however, so they were arrayed for movement rather than combat when we hit them. Casualties 1883 (J) to 1937 (A). Our bombers are going to have a field day with this. Meanwhile we're about to cross into Ayuthia on the "east road". We'd be facing a lot more casualties if we had to cross into Bangkok to fight these guys, and they're going to take a lot more losses from our bombers in the open than they would inside their fortified base.
Sumatra
Well, we missed the replenishment group, but found a supply convoy. Barracuda II dive bombers made their combat debut flying from HMS Illustrious near Port Blair, sinking 3 AKLs at Sabang.
Reinforcements
DD Callaghan arrives at Los Angeles
DE George arrives at Eastern USA
APD Goldsborough arrives at Balboa
No.9 Sqn IAF arrives at Lahore
33rd FG/59th FS arrives at Aden
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